I asked actor & writer amelia kennedy to be our muse for the hue collection & talked to her about how she connects to colors.

as an actor and a writer I create and express constantly, particularly from vulnerable places such as the throat.

— amelia kennedy on the color blue

G: do you find yourself drawn to certain colors?

A: it’s interesting; in terms of the clothes that I wear, I wear a lot of black and dark colors. it’s the same when I chose furniture; I noticed recently that all of my bedroom furniture is made out of dark wood. however, in terms of visual stimulants, like paintings, images and, in fact, jewelry, I find myself very drawn to shades of blue, green as well as earthy, natural tones such as browns and burnt orange. I love colors that are open, endless like a stretch of land or an ocean. the colored choker that I was most drawn to was the blue one -- when you told me that it was representative of the throat chakra, that of creativity and expression, it made sense because as an actor and a writer I create and express constantly, particularly from vulnerable places such as the throat.

 I usually wear colors within jewelry and accessories as a contrast against the darker colors of my clothing. I like to have a pop of color in my overall look.

— amelia kennedy

G:how do you like to wear the colors that you're drawn to?

A: I usually wear colors within jewelry and accessories as a contrast against the darker colors of my clothing. I like to have a pop of color in my overall look. these colors appear in various stones and fabric sewn into jewelry. my favorite pair of earrings from tsii contains lapis lazuli, which is a deep blue stone. once again I am attracted to blues.

G: how do you think of color when you're acting? does it come up at all?

A: I once worked with an acting teacher who showed us an exercise involving color; we were advised to speak our text envisioning different colors and to see how that affected the way we delivered the text. harsher colors like red and bright orange made me have a more violent reaction when acting whereas gentler colors like blue and light green allowed me to find peace and even vulnerability within the character I was playing. white and black were the most interesting shades to experiment with as both of them surprised me with a feeling of open emptiness which allowed me to find even more vulnerability as I envisioned so much of the unknown.

I find that I tend to associate color with memory and memory with feeling.

— amelia kennedy

G: what about when you're writing?

A: colors come up a lot for me when I write. I find that I tend to associate color with memory and memory with feeling. in one of my poems I describe being ‘tainted a burnt orange’ by another person (excerpt below). I wrote this poem based off of a memory that took place in brooklyn during fall and I realized that the emotion went hand in hand with the environment of the memory. so much of writing is connected to memory and experience and I have found that for me certain colors are associated with certain memories. the room in the house I grew up in had red gingham wallpaper -- that pattern is a part of my childhood. in terms of writing fiction I try to bring this concept into my plays and short stories to add to the visual effect of writing.

G:what projects are you working on or dreaming up right now?

A: currently I am working to expand my one woman show entitled ‘amelia’ – an exploration of the life and struggle of pilot and feminist icon amelia earhart. I hope to enter it into festivals and larger venues by next summer. I am also writing both a book of short stories and a book of poetry, the latter of which I am aspiring to be my next collaboration with tsii with the process of making it into a chapbook.

You tainted me a burnt orange color.

The color of the autumn leaves that fell around us in Williamsburg that November.

It filled my body with the sweetest warmth and comfort of entrapment.

I was burnt and yet frozen when I found something so warm within someone so cold.